Instead, the university is sponsoring a dialogue group, which has already met several times, on many of the issues set forth in the Bridge Builders proposal.

“Given the history of the type of campus that we are, we didn’t want to create a group to start a campus-wide organization around things that could be potentially divisive or difficult for the institution at this point,” said Dr. Andrew Johnston, Belmont University’s Dean of Student Affairs.

Junior Robbie Maris, who is now Bridge Builders’ president, first started Bridge Builders as a Facebook group. After that group gained members, he and other students held interest meetings to gauge student interest in turning Bridge Builders into an official organization.

Last semester, Maris and others began the process of trying to get this recognition, offering in their rationale that Bridge Builders would strive to:

•     foster examination of the intersection of Christian faith and LGBT related issues through group discussion, use of diverse guest speakers, and possible convocation events on Belmont’s campus;
•     promote healthy, respectful exchange between the Christian and LGBT communities present on-campus.

Earlier this semester, the Student Life Council recommended approval of Bridge Builders. While the council makes recommendations for chartering potential student organizations, the decision ultimately falls on the offices of the provost and student affairs. Belmont Provost Dr. Marcia McDonald decided to take the proposed organization “under review.”

Ultimately, the university decided not to charter Bridge Builders, and instead to sponsor the dialogue group.

“My decision was to respond to a student need for talking about some of the issues that were raised in the Bridge Builders proposal, and we have done that,” McDonald said. “I think it’s a responsible place for us to be as a university, given our broadly ecumenical community.”

According to Johnston, the potential for Bridge Builders to be divisive was one reason the group was not chartered. “Given our own history and the fact that we are a broadly ecumenical institution with all sorts of perspectives on the topic, we recognize that it’s potentially provocative or even divisive,” he said. “We don’t want it to distract or become a problem, and most of all we don’t want it to prove to be something that’s divisive to our university community.”

In the past, however, Belmont has chartered at least one student organization that centers on an issue – abortion – that has long been volatile in society.  Belmont’s Students for Life strives to “educate the campus, students, and faculty regarding abortion and infanticide” and “to put the abortion issue out front, promote a pro-life culture and serve local crisis pregnancy centers.”

Sophomore Pomai Verzon, a political science and international economics major, became involved with Bridge Builders shortly before the group learned it would not be chartered.  She questioned labeling Bridge Builders as potentially divisive while chartering Students for Life.

“I think if you’re going to say that this issue is divisive, it should apply to all issues that are controversial,” Verzon said. “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous for them to have a double standard.”

Johnston said another reason Bridge Builders was not chartered was because  “it was the type of organization that we have not found appropriate for the campus community in the past.”

But Dr. Bonnie Smith, who serves as an informal adviser to the group, disagrees that historical precedent should factor in the decision. “If we truly are student-centered, then we need to acknowledge that our students may bring things to us that make us slightly uncomfortable or that might not jive with our history,” she said.

Maris thought Bridge Builders could serve as a medium to dispel stereotypes about the gay community. Gay people, Maris said, are widely perceived as being promiscuous and rarely Christian.

“We’re not the stereotype,” he said, noting that Bridge Builders includes many students who are both gay and Christian, but welcoming to any interested Belmont students.

According to the group’s rationale, diverse opinions on LGBT issues within the Christian community, and in the wider culture, necessitate “fair, loving acknowledgment of LGBT individuals, their supporters, and their dissenters.”

As an alternative to chartering Bridge Builders as a student organization, Belmont is sponsoring a dialogue group to discuss issues in the group’s proposal. Participants include those who helped create the proposal, as well as other students, faculty and Johnston himself.

“While we didn’t want to charter an organization or to have a campus-wide conversation on that run by just a student organization, we did recognize that the conversation was important,” Johnston said. “We wanted to give that a place to occur.”

So far, the dialogue group is not open. “To have the kind of candid conversation we hope to have, we try to develop a relationship with one another,” he said.

The dialogue group is not designed to forge a consensus or answer a question, but “to produce a rich conversation, so that’s what we’re all working on,” Johnston said.

McDonald said the dialogue group provides a structured environment for a conversation to ensure that diverse perspectives are recognized. “A student organization is not necessarily committed to a range of perspectives,” she explained. University-sponsored dialogue groups, however, have to be “attentive to the broader university community.”

Dr. Andrea Stover, another informal adviser to Bridge Builders, said she believes there are good intentions behind the dialogue groups, and she hopes it will eventually lead to the organization being chartered.

But Stover said she thinks there is uncertainty about the ultimate purpose of the dialogue group.

“I don’t think there is a common goal among the members of the dialogue group, and I think that may be a source of confusion and frustration for people,” she said. That different people involved have different views on the purpose of the dialogue group makes it “a very curious establishment,” she added.

Maris commended Johnston for the way he is conducting the groups. “I think he was happy to take on this. It’s more focused, we can probably get more done.”

Some, however, are not content with a dialogue group alone and believe the organization should have been chartered.

Stover said she was disappointed when the proposal was not chartered, but she said the first dialogue group was supportive and respectful. But she also said, “If it had been in student hands, I don’t think it would have been any less successful.”

Some students felt that approving the organization would have been a better choice than choosing to hold the university-sponsored dialogue group. “A dialogue group kind of sounds like you’re shoving it to the side as opposed to an organization,” said sophomore neuroscience major Roxy Musharrafeia. “I think the organization would be very worthwhile because these issues need to be discussed.”

Sophomore biology major Sylvia Chac said the dialogue group seems like it was created to “appease the public.”

“I feel like the students are a lot more liberal than the people in charge, and I feel like we have a lot of different goals than the people in charge,” said freshman music business major Ale Delgado.

Sponsoring the dialogue group instead of chartering the organization, she said, seems “not so much hatred as disapproval, shoving it under the rug.”

Verzon said that, ideally, “students should be able to have their own sovereignty” to discuss these issues “without other people supervising it.”

Smith said she respects the people in the administration who made the decision, but she thinks that to charter an organization such as Bridge Builders is not out of step with Belmont’s mission. “We are a Christian university, and we are a student-centered university, and we say that we care about courage and compassion and faith,” she said. “Because I want to embody courage, which is part of our mission statement, I am not afraid to help that along.”

Maris specifically pointed out sections of Vision 2015, a document that outlines Belmont’s goals for the next five years and how, to him, not chartering Bridge Builders is not consistent with these sections. “If the administration wants to create a ‘culture of inclusion,’ they need to start owning up to what they preach,” he said.

As Belmont reaches out to enroll 7,000 students by 2015, Maris said, “there’s obviously going to be more gay, lesbian, bisexual students on campus. If we grow more, Belmont is really going to need a home for those students.”

But some students say the decision not to charter Bridge Builders should not come as a surprise. Senior mass communications major Ebony Cosby said she had no problem with the group existing, but felt the decision was understandable at a “school that’s openly Christian.”

And sophomore audio engineering technology major Jeremy Quarles said the dialogue group seemed like “a good solution” if the goal was to discuss how the group could eventually become a student organization.

Johnston said choosing not to charter Bridge Builders as a student organization was not a simple decision. “We want to be sensitive not only to … the number of people that are interested but even those that might not be speaking up or alternative perspectives on either side,” he said.

Whether or not Bridge Builders is ever chartered in the future, Maris thinks it is important to clear up confusion about LGBT issues and Christianity. “For any dissenters out there, you really can be gay and Christian,” he said. “If those in the divide actually opened their minds, it would benefit this campus, this country and above all themselves.”

The plan calls for continuing construction on and off the main campus, including everything from building new athletic facilities in Rose Park and renovating the Belmont Heights Sanctuary to restoring the historic bell tower and possibly redoing the cafeteria.

Most of the construction will occur on the northwest corner of campus near 15th and Wedgewood Avenues, said Steve Lasley, vice president of finance and operations.

The land will be home to the new School of Law scheduled to open to its first class of students for the 2011-12 academic year, as well as new conference center, which will also provide additional classroom space.  Later, the area might also house a new science and religion building.

The plans also call for a revitalization of the soccer field. By fall, the field is expected to be a park-like plaza open to students.

“It’ll be like the National Mall in Washington,” Lasley said. Concrete benches curving out from the new pharmacy building will surround the mall.

A 1000-car parking garage behind Belmont Heights Baptist Church is also planned. A connecting pathway will connect the main campus and the proposed garage.

But after years of construction in the middle of campus, many Belmont students say they are concerned about the ongoing building and the noise, dust and frequent street and sidewalk detours on campus.

“I’m all for Belmont trying to expand and improve everything, but it shouldn’t interfere with people studying or sleeping. When it does, it goes too far,” said Ian Drake, who has lived next to the new dorm construction for the last two semesters.

The new construction should also avoid affecting student life as much as possible,  Drake said.

“It depends on where it’s at and where it’s going to be close to,” he said. “But if it’s far enough away, it won’t have much of an effect, which will be good.”

Lasley is optimistic that what’s ahead may be better for students.

“I think this construction will be much less disruptive than the previous ones,” Lasley said. “It will run a lot smoother than other projects.”

More buildings will house more students, and many current students express concern that the small community feeling that brought them to Belmont is in jeopardy.

“They need to ask students how they feel about it,” said Ryan Combs, one of the first students to learn about Vision 2015. “One of the biggest things they have going for them is their smallness.”
Drake is also concerned about the university’s size, but doubts it will be an issue while he is on campus.

“I guess in the long run it will be good, but now it’s going to just be a pain,” he said.

Some of the construction, including the pharmacy building and the new freshman residence halls, will be completed when students return to campus in August. The psychology building – the red brick building north of the soccer field, will be gone, and that department will be housed in the pharmacy buiding.

Land shouldn’t be an issue with this phase of construction, as Belmont already owns more than 80 percent of the land. Lasley is certain, however, that Belmont will continue to try to buy more land around the area, including property on Ashwood, Delmar, Compton and Bernard avenues.

“There’s a lot of stuff we don’t have in the area,” said Lasley. “But it’s a real slow process to acquire property. It’s hard to come by.”

Combs said he believes that if the school does expand, it will need even more land on which to build.

“I think Belmont has to make a decision. If they want to expand, they’re need to expand with land and not just build on what we have,” he said.

The decision would have its share of consequences to many, Combs said.    “You’re going to lose the community feeling if it happens though.”

Peg Leonard-Martin, director of Counseling Services, believes the reason behind the increase is obvious: the added stress college students experience every day.

“One of the things that was a shock to me was the pressure that a lot of Belmont students are under,” Leonard-Martin said. “Mind you, I don’t see the students that just breeze on through. But the ones that come to me who are taking full-course loads, working two part-time jobs, taking voice lessons or doing an internship – they sacrifice their nutrition and sleep to keep going. I see it as a really huge problem.”

But it’s not just a Belmont problem.

Leonard-Martin contacted surrounding universities, and they’ve all seen an increase in mental health issues on their campuses.

“We’re not alone. It is a national phenomenon right now, but we had a very horrific problem in the fall,” Leonard-Martin said.

Counseling Services can treat severe psychological problems, but some cases, like each of the 12 in the fall of 2009, require outside help. A circumstance like this, Leonard-Martin said, occurs when the trained professionals in Belmont’s counseling network determine that using additional resources can help the student.

“We have a number of doctors and psychiatrists that we refer to in the Nashville area,” she said. “Feedback from students has been consistently positive.”

Counseling Services at Belmont is always busy. They’re “filling every hour, every day, every week,” said Leonard-Martin.

Asking for help early in times of struggle is imperative. To the director of Counseling Services, it’s a sign of strength.

“Anyone who ever comes to ask for help always thinks they’re the only ones going through it,” Leonard-Martin said. “But it’s part of being a human being. You’re not alone. You’re never going to be judged here. You’re only helped, and we are sacredly confidential.”

Because of concern about an increase in student crises, Counseling Services has already updated its website with information for family and friends who may be worried certain students who are experiencing a mental health issue.

Additionally, STARS – Students at Risk – each semester asks faculty members to be attentive to noticeable changes in any student’s behavior that might indicate emotional hurdles that they need help with. STARS can bridge those concerns and help to direct them to professionals on campus who can assist them.

Even before those projects go forward, today’s students are expressing concerns about the state of student facilities at Belmont. Namely, the issue is condensed to this question: As Belmont shoots toward an enrollment of 7,000 students, where will current students study, eat and sleep?

This past year, the Student Government Association worked with administration to extend the hour of the Beaman Student Life Center until 3 a.m. Outgoing SGA President D.J. King said he saw this as “hopefully a step towards getting a common location 24 hours for students.”

Bunch Library

The staff of the library, another popular study spot, said that despite the Beaman’s extended hours, students still express concern about a lack of late night study spaces, and safe ones at that.

Although the library offers extended hours from after mid-term through finals, junior Sukhbir Grewal said, “I think their biggest problem is they’re not open late enough.”

Reference librarian Rachel Scott said they’ve discussed the option of longer hours throughout the semester, but there are some obstacles.

“We’ve talked to a lot of different people about expanding library hours, including security,” she said, “and they don’t think they can keep this part of campus safe at night. They don’t have the personnel to do it.”

Scott also explained that it is not viable to keep the library open because they do not have the staff and budgets have been flat for a while.

“I do like the fact that there’s usually an open computer and it provides a quiet place to study without distractions,” Grewal said.

Two years ago, the library added study desks and opened up the layout to try and accommodate more group study areas.

“Probably the biggest concern is study space,” said Jenny Rushing, coordinator of Reference Services. The library has four study rooms for a student body of around 5500.

According to the records the library keeps, the 2008-2009 school year saw a 13 percent increase in study room usage. Traffic through the front door was at 89,348 for the same period, an 18 percent increase.

“We do need to expand to provide the services that we would like to and that a lot of Belmont students have expressed interest in,” Scott said.  “We don’t have a lot of the other services that a university library might offer like a copy center, media spaces, more computer labs.”

Recently the library conducted a survey to find out what students would like, things such as longer hours, free printing and a café, but feasibility is an issue. Free printing can lead to large amounts of wasted paper, and although Rushing said that a café would be at the top of everyone’s list, “with the current building that we have, we just don’t know where we would put it. We’re just trying to be very, very creative and work with what we have.”

The library itself was re-purposed from its original construction as a classroom building.  From the student perspective, junior Erin Cleary put it like this: “At college, the library should be the best building on campus.”

Student housing

Another point of concern for students is housing. Over the past three years Belmont built two new freshmen dorms and this year announced that Wright/Maddox—women’s and men’s dorms with a common lobby – will shift to housing upperclassmen.

In the housing crunch of the past few years, Wright hall was tripled for several years. In Maple Hall this academic year, on certain floors there were three women to a room.

Anthony Donovan, director of residence life, discussed the series of residential facilities built over the past 10 years that include Maple, as well as Kennedy Hall, Thrailkill Hall, and the second phase of the Hillside apartments.

Many students though, say they feel that campus housing could be better.

Hail Hall resident Aaron Espiritu said maintenance is an issue, from leaky pipes to spotty electricity.

Similarly, freshman Maple Hall resident Danielle Hollis appreciates that there are always people in the lobby of Maple Hall, but wasn’t thrilled about having two roommates. “It’s tough, it’s hard to just in there by yourself, there’s always someone else there. There’s not enough room to do that.”

“We’ve tried to build as our demand has occurred,” Donovan said, “and that can often make it tough from one year to the next.” The university has a certain ratio of students who live on campus. Donovan said that if the university wants to maintain that, more residence halls will probably have to be built.

“Everybody who needed housing – who is a current student of ours – we were able to provide them an opportunity for that,” he said with regard to the recent housing draw for fall.

As for keeping up facilities, Donovan said buildings are on a rotation for renovation and maintenance. He said that over the years students have taken better care of the facilities, so there has not been as much of a need to do major work.

“Each year we take a series of buildings in Hillside. We do roughly 12-20 apartments in Bruin Hills and the Commons. We do those with carpet and paint.” Donovan said.

Upkeep for residence facilities comes out of the university’s maintenance budget. “Students have to remember that there are lots of university priorities,” Donovan said. “Classroom buildings need attention, dining halls need attention, other facilities that the university has, have to compete with housing priorities as well.”

He noted that housing facilities probably get the most wear and tear, but other facilities cannot be neglected.

The Caf

When not in class, in the dorms, or studying, the cafeteria is a pretty good shot when it comes to places where students spend time.

Many students have mixed feelings on the cafeteria’s ability to provide food for everyone.  “It’s pretty good for what it is, for being caf food and all. I really eat the same thing everyday; a sandwich and pizza, it never lets you down. I like it,” said freshman Zach Witcher.

Others have a differing view about what the cafeteria provides for its students who rely heavily on eating there.

“The caf has leftovers almost every day.  They repeat a lot of the food they have on a weekly basis,” said freshman Jared Oban.  “It needs to start focusing on what students want.  I do think their mac and cheese is great, however.”

“I have one significant disappointment to report and that is related to our diversity goals,” Fisher said. “We have made what I would deem ‘acceptable progress’ in regard to the ethnic diversity of our staff (18 percent) and the ethnic and gender diversity of our Board of Trustees (36 percent). However, the ethnic diversity of our faculty seems to be stuck at about 5 percent and the percentage for our students actually declined last year from 13 percent to 10 percent.”

Seven months later, Fisher unveiled the Vision 2015 document, a five-year-plan for Belmont covering everything from enrollment goals and potential new building projects to turning Belmont into “Nashville’s university.”

The plan also touches on diversity among the faculty and students. Under the heading “Increase Diversity and Increase Cultural Competency” are three bullet points:

• Create a culture of inclusion;
• Actively and intentionally recruit diverse faculty, staff, board, and students;
• Ensure learning experiences that enable students to gain strong intercultural competency.

Over the past 10 years, Belmont has increased in diversity. According to the common set data from 2009-2010, there are more females than males, and the numbers of minorities on campus have risen from the neighborhood of 200 to close to 600. However, as Fisher said, though the numbers have doubled, so has Belmont’s enrollment. “It’s slow progress,” he said.

Diversity can include a wide range of categories, but Dean of Students Dr. Andrew Johnston says Belmont is identifying diversity in terms of race, ethnicity and gender specifically. As far as non-visible minorities, religious or economic, for example, Belmont does not have a plan to target these students, both Fisher and Johnston said.

“What we want to do is create an environment where everyone feels welcome,” Fisher said.

Meeting that goal has prompted Belmont to put a plan into place.

“It’s a big step to say, here’s what we’re doing strategically,” Johnston said. Belmont is working with Derek Young and his wife Allison on a program called “Welcome Home.” Young worked with Cracker Barrel after the restaurant chain found itself involved in issues with discrimination.

The program in part will cover making sure Belmont’s hiring practices are effective and focusing on certain high schools in the Nashville area that would “bring us a higher pool of minority students,” Fisher said. There is also a plan that will be formally introduced in the fall.

As far as where Fisher sees Belmont in the future, he draws on the current two classes enrolled in the school of pharmacy as examples.

“I say just walk into a classroom when they’re all there and look at them and you’d see what we’re trying to do, they’re from all over the world, they’re from all ethnic groups, it looks like the US of A, and the world together, it looks like the streets of New York City,” Fisher said. He also said he expects the law school to fill in similarly.

Part of what accounts for the make up of the pharmacy school is starting from scratch, as Fisher put it. For the rest of the student body, the process will be more gradual in terms of changing the ethnic and racial make up as well as changing attitudes about diversity.

On the admissions end, director of undergraduate admissions Anne Edmunds said that the admissions committee takes into account “the total picture.” In terms of diversity, “we also consider geographic diversity (all 50 states are represented on campus), academic program diversity (major), religion and classification (freshman/transfer/graduate student),” she said.

With regard to faculty, since 2000, Belmont has conducted hiring under an Affirmative Action Plan. In an October interview with director of human resources Sally McKay, she said that when an institution crosses a certain threshold in terms of the money it brings in, the government starts requiring an AAP to do things like keep federal grants.

When Belmont is looking to hire, the university tries to create an applicant pool that is representative  (or as representative as possible) of the available minorities based on statistics collected from the Department of Education and the U.S. census.

The challenge is filling that applicant pool.

“We proactively try to find ways of changing processes and the impact of those processes to reach better employment opportunities for those groups,” McKay said.

The 2008 AAP describes efforts taken to notify various groups that a position is open, saying that “the university… is utilizing online advertising venues including The Chronicle of Higher Education, HigherEdJob.com, InsideHigherEdJobs.com, the NCAA website, and the Black Coaches Association website.”

According to McKay though, filling out the applicant groups is an “imperfect science.” The numbers are based on “perfect world stats,” she said, meaning that the percentages “don’t always reflect that because the numbers are small.”

However, that is what McKay says the government is looking for in AAPs – a “good faith effort.”

McKay said that Belmont is always vulnerable to a random audit, but the government will not intervene unless there are complaints or anything that could be considered a lack of a “good faith effort.” To stay within that designation, practices are followed, applicants are treated equally and judgments are based on qualifications.

Fisher said he wants Belmont to be a place where people of all varieties feel welcome. Diversifying the faculty has been a struggle.

“I contend that if you can’t do that, you can’t really change, you can’t bring young people here to go to school and then look around and see who works here, what do they look like; there’s an unintended message there that we want to change,” he said. Apart from that, Fisher sees religious roots in the push for diversity.

He cited the story from the Gospel of John where the Pharisees asked Jesus what should be done with a woman who committed adultery. Jesus bent down and drew in the sand and when they continued to ask, he responded “let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Fisher likens what he’s doing to drawing in the sand.

“Jesus just opened his arms to people and loved them, cared for them, embraced them, he didn’t turn anyone away,” Fisher said.

Though, while the university might be open and in pursuit of diversity, all faculty at Belmont must be Christian.

“There is, at Belmont, sort of the big elephant in the room, which is, we hire Christian faculty,” Fisher said. “That’s Belmont, that’s part of who we are, and I try to make that clear to students before they get here.”

Similarly, Johnston said that changing and growing “does not mean that a place loses its identity.”

Fisher, who has worked at state schools in the past with plenty of non-Christian faculty, acknowledged that this might “complicate things a little,” and it does limit the international faculty Belmont can hire.

“That keeps us from being more diverse,” junior biology major Lindsey Dalton said, in response to learning about the Christian requirement.

Senior accounting major Jenna Davidson said that she wouldn’t mind having professors with different opinions. “If you let students who are non-Christians in, you should let faculty in,” she said.

“It is an issue that we have to be alert to, but beyond that, beyond the national implications of the predominance of different religions of most countries, we’re open to anyone who’s Christian,” Fisher said.

They came together to offer a worship experience with the African-American preaching style. The seven come from many different backgrounds and have been in ministry from two to 10 years and range from ages 18-35.

“The black church has a focus on music but a higher focus on the preached word,” Crudup said. “The rhythmic style, the call and response that go back to the days of slavery.”

VIDEO: Music and excerpts from the church service, by Abby Selden

Although the congregation may not always agree with what the minister says, they will still respond with “Amen” if it is the truth, he said.

Crudup said that in the present day, this “is their way to reach out into the crowd and touch the hearts and minds of the people.”

It’s a style that is familiar to both Crudup and Waller. What follows, in their own words, are their individual stories of the churches and pastors that were their examples and inspirations.

Andre’ Waller

As I grew up in Louisville, Ky., I was a member of the Greater Salem Baptist Church. My grandmother Katherine Waller was very instrumental in me being in church. This was a church that sat in the middle of inner city housing, also known as the projects.

What I can remember most about the church is that we were full of outreach and always going out into the community. There was nothing too big or too small that did not get addressed. The church knew that the surrounding community, its youth and adults needed help and the pastor, Claude Royston, and members were ready to respond to the needs of the community.

There was a significant difference in the community once Greater Salem became involved. Killings, shootings, addictions and many other corruptions began to decrease.

What I admired about Pastor Royston was that he was not afraid of the community at all. He knew the needs of the people and trained the congregation of Greater Salem to meet those people at their needs. He was not one that sat around saying “something needs to be done,” but he was a man of action and took the steps to make that community a much better and safer one.

In remembering all that Pastor Royston had done, it is easy to know why and understand that Greater Salem had a huge impact on me becoming the man that I am today. Not only am I a minister, but I transitioned into the Marine Corps out of high school.

I knew then that the Lord had placed a calling on my life, but it was that time that I ran away from the will and call of God. I tried to hide, but everyone around me could see the Jesus in me. I was always appointed to lead my platoon in devotions and bible study. I know that since I was heavily involved in the church and all of the things that were going on, I kept them near to my heart. When I was away from home, I still had the desire to go to church and keep up with my studies of the word of God. I was trained at Greater Salem and that is something that I will always remember.

Terrell Crudup

I grew up in the suburbs of Austin, Texas. My mother, Helen Crudup, made sure that my siblings and I were always in school. I never saw too much trauma, but I did see drunks and crackheads in my own family. My mother and father separated and divorced during my third-grade year.

I learned to find God in my distress and troubles. My mother never expected anything less than godliness from her children. She trained us to fear God and to study the word. She spoke life over our broken family and held it together. My father gave me a work ethic. Saturdays and Sunday evenings were designated for the family business of cutting grass. Between the two of them, I developed into the person I am today.

God began to call me when I was 6. I believe in God, the devil, his minions, and God’s angels. Simply, I believe in the workings of the spiritual realm, and I was able to recognize the workings of God and the devil in my life and quickly chose God.

God has a way of talking that soothes the spirit. He continued to call me until I finally said yes when I was 18. I was at Belmont by that time trying to enter the music industry. When I accepted my call, I switched my major to religion. The rest is history.

“I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work.”

Belmont is one of about 150 colleges and universities with a Graduation Pledge Alliance.

The pledge is strictly voluntary, but graduating senior Lindsay Walker is one of the four students at Belmont trying to bring awareness to the pledge.

“The main purpose is to make a commitment to be aware of the consequences of what you’re doing as a career and to bring that awareness into your job search and into your career after you graduate,” Walker said.

The provost-approved organization started campaigning for the pledge at Belmont in the spring of 2006.  The original alliance began in 1987 at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif.

“There are over 100,000 people who have signed the pledge nationally,” Walker said.

They set up tables at graduation rehearsals for those interested in signing the pledge.

For more information, visit graduationpledge.org.

Selden, a senior journalism major, heard about the Lumos Student Travel Award, a grant awarded to help students volunteer abroad. Cynthia Leu, a member of Belmont’s Board of Trustees, established the award that Selden will use to allow her to serve for three months in the West African country of Ghana.

“I had an initial meeting with Dr. Maggie Monteverde and expressed my interest in the travel award and asked her what it was about,” Selden said.

She got the application from Monteverde, who serves as a professor of English, assistant provost for International Education and Programs Away and executive director of the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad.

“She told me that I needed to find an organization to travel with before I could apply for Lumos,” Selden said, “so I did a lot of research on different organizations I could travel with. I settled on one called Projects Abroad, an organization for people who want to volunteer abroad.”

Monteverde was involved in the selection process for the award. She says the award is ideal for Belmont students, as it aligns with the university’s mission.

“The award really gets at the heart of some of the things Belmont is trying to achieve,” Monteverde said. “It will enable students to participate in an immersion experience in a community and that, in many ways, fits Belmont’s mission of engaging and transforming the world.”

To apply for the Lumos Award, Selden had to meet a variety of standards and was required to have a specific plan in place for what she would be doing abroad. The award may be used to cover transportation, accommodations and other costs.

Selden was required to complete two essays of 500 words each, provide two letters of reference as well as details about her proposed travel, in addition to a breakdown of costs. “It’s a fairly elaborate application process,” Monteverde said.

Ultimately, Selden was chosen as the first recipient of the Lumos Award. “I don’t think we could have asked for a better first winner than Abby,” Monteverde said. “It was immensely helpful to have a student who was such a good researcher.”

However, Selden’s lack of travel experience abroad was an initial concern to the committee that selected her. “There was one aspect of what we were looking for that was not the case with Abby,” Monteverde said. “What we ideally wanted was someone who had already done a study abroad program.”

Although Selden did not meet this qualification, the committee agreed she was prepared to volunteer abroad. “This is a big step for her,” Monteverde said. “But she’d clearly given a lot of thought to it and we were all in agreement that she’s an excellent recipient.”

Selden says she is appreciative of the opportunity she was awarded. “I was incredibly excited when I found out I’d gotten the Lumos Award,” she said. “I just felt so grateful and thankful that they thought that I was deserving and that they trusted me to use what they had given me and really go do something good in the world.”

While she knows she will be serving for three months – from late July to late October – as a volunteer in Ghana, Selden won’t know the specific details of her experience until about a month before she leaves the United States.

“Projects Abroad allows you to choose what category you’ll volunteer under,” Selden said. “You choose what interests you, and so, because of working as a children’s program volunteer at Safe Haven Family Shelter, I knew that I wanted to continue that and I knew that I was interested in the care category, so I’ll either be working at some sort of care center or an orphanage.”

In addition to volunteering, Selden is expected to keep a record of her experience and present that information to interested students when she returns. “I know there has to be a visual component, so I’m sure I’ll take pictures or video,” she said. “I also might keep a blog while I’m there.”

Both Selden and Monteverde agree that the award fills a need for Belmont students. “It’s one of the only awards a graduating senior can receive,” Monteverde said.

The Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 received far less media coverage than the health care bill, but greatly impacts current and prospective students. With the cost of college steadily rising, more students are depending on financial aid to make ends meet.

According to The Associated Press, nearly half of all undergraduates currently receive federal student aid and about 8.5 million students are going to college with the help of Pell Grants.

In the past, students—or their parents—applied for loans with private lenders, including banks, credit unions and loan associations. Already backed by the government, these lenders provided aid to students using federal money, assuming virtually no risk themselves. In addition, they received federal subsidies to essentially act as a middleman in the lending process.

The new legislation cuts out private lenders entirely.

Beginning July 1, 2010, all colleges and universities are required to switch to the direct lending program, in which the government becomes the primary issuer of student loans.

“Year after year, we’ve seen billions of taxpayer dollars handed out as subsidies to the bankers and middlemen who handle federal student loans, when that money should have gone to advancing the dreams of our students and working families,” said President Barack Obama in a weekly address after the bill’s signing.

By cutting out the middlemen, borrowers will deal directly with the government, making the loan process simpler and more efficient. In addition to streamlining the application process and loan repayment, taxpayers will save approximately $68 billion over the next 11 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. As far away as it sounds, the extra money will create an additional 820,000 Pell Grants by 2020, a figure that will be a welcome sigh of relief when saving for future generations to attend college.

The savings also make it possible to raise the maximum award for students with exceptional need. Currently, eligible students can receive a maximum award of $5,550, which is expected to increase to $5,975 by the 2013 academic year.

Current students can benefit from the new reform, but not immediately. If students borrowed a federal loan prior to the 2010-2011 academic year it was issued through the Federal Family Education Loan Program, or FFELP. As of July 1, 2010, that program will be eliminated and future loans will be issued through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program. Students graduating with an FFELP loan may be eligible to consolidate that debt with a Direct Loan after graduation.

Before applying to enroll in the Direct Loan Program, students should attempt to consolidate their previous loans with an FFEL lender first, but if unable to do so or unable to secure one with income-sensitive repayment terms, consolidating under the new program could be beneficial. Students should determine if consolidating is in their best interest depending on variables such as the total amount remaining to pay off, the length of time left for repayment or if they are in danger of defaulting.

Beginning in 2014, borrowers will have more options to reduce their repayment. For students who go on to work full-time in the public service sector, they will see the life of their loan reduced to 10 years, while borrowers who make their payments on time will have theirs forgiven after 20 years instead of the current 25. Student loan repayment will be capped at a total of 10 percent of the graduate’s income compared to the existing 15 percent cap.

“This reform of the federal student loan programs will save taxpayers $68 billion over the next decade,” said Obama. “And with this legislation, we’re putting that money to use achieving a goal I set for America: by the end of this decade, we will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”

“We’re coming out of a recession, the economy’s improving, and companies are feeling less uncertain and they’re starting to hire again,” said Patricia Jacobs, director of Belmont’s Office of Career Services.

Although in fall 2009 the National Association of Colleges and Employers predicted a bad year for graduates entering the workplace, hiring has increased each month in 2010, providing a more optimistic view of the job outlook this year.

For Belmont University, the hiring rate of students continues to increase after gloomy prospects a year ago.

According to First Destination Data, which holds Belmont’s statistics for the percentage of employed graduates, 86 percent of graduates were employed six months after graduating in spring 2009, a 5 percent increase from the same time a year earlier.

“The numbers [for the hiring rate] had been in the low 80s and now they’re moving up to the higher 80s,” Jacobs said.  “That is high compared to other universities when you look nationally, but Belmont has consistently been above the national average.”

Jacobs believed the reason for Belmont’s above average accomplishment was due to students’ focus and preparation with internships and part-time jobs, she said.

Some students agree that Belmont helped them feel prepared about entering their fields, despite some concern about finding employment in a tough job market.

“I feel like Belmont’s prepared me to be on my game,” said Elizabeth Smith, a
graduating musical theater major.  “I’m always looking for something, being prepared for my auditions, not just going in and winging it, but I feel like the opportunities are limited.”

Seniors of varying majors feel concern about getting jobs after graduation. More graduating seniors visited the Office of Career Services in 2010 than in 2009.

“My concern is not so much that I’m not prepared. My concern is that there won’t be a job for me,” said Cheyenne Metzger, graduating sociology major.

Despite a recent improvement in the job market and Belmont’s above average hiring rate, some students may have to take jobs different from what they’d planned, or take a bridge job and wait for a better opportunity to execute their post-graduation plans.

Jacobs encourages students to have multiple plans for life after graduation.

“An individual may be taking a position that is not specifically related to their major but that’s not uncommon,” Jacobs said. “It’s all about the liberal arts education – getting a good education to help you get your foot in the door, and then that presents opportunities for the future.”

Some students such as those getting degrees in business fields and medical fields are predicted to be most successful in finding relevant employment.

The job market may be progressing, but Jacobs said it will still be a couple of years before the hiring rate returns to percentage in the high 80s or low 90s, the rate before the recession.